Carrot halwa is a North Indian sweet dish. If you don’t know halwa, it is a dense, rich sweet dish that can be made with various vegetables/legumes/flours like carrot, sooji/semolina, Moong dhal, wheat milk, beetroot, cornflour, and so on. The two mandatory ingredients for halwa are ghee and sugar. Ingredients for halwa are very basic that we may already have in our pantry. However, the procedure for halwa is time-consuming also, require high labor work. But, Once in a while, it is worth to make halwa at home for our loved ones. Remember no pain, no gain :-).
Carrot halwa with Vanilla ice cream is one of my favorite desserts. I prefer my carrot halwa warm. This combo is actually popular Dessert served at the Indian restaurants. similarly, warm gulab jamun with vanilla ice cream is also a popular combo. Please check our soft gulab jamun recipe here.
Ingredients:
- 500 grams of carrot
- 7 Table spoon ghee
- 15 Cashew nuts
- a pinch of salt
- 100 to 120 grams of sugar( adjust according to your taste)
- 2.5 to 3 cups of milk(1 cup=235 ml)
- 1/4 to 1/2 tsp of Cardamom
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Procedure :
Step 1: Carrot paste:
- Wash the carrots and peel the skin. Cut the carrot to a bite size pieces and grind them to a coarse paste. Do not add water for grinding.
Step 2: Carrot Halwa
- In a wide and heavy bottom pan, heat 2 tbsp of ghee. When the ghee is nice and hot, add the coarse carrot paste. Saute the carrot for 5 minutes or so or until the raw smell is completely gone. Add in a pinch of salt to the carrots.
- Make sure the raw smell of carrot is gone then, pour the whole fat milk to the carrot. Reduce the heat and simmer the carrot.
- Once the 3/4 of the added milk is absorbed, add the white sugar and mix well.
- First, the sugar will melt and make the halwa watery. Keep stirring until the carrot halwa becomes thick.
- Once the halwa reaches the thick consistency, add 2 tbsp of ghee and stir well. When the added ghee is completely absorbed, pour the second batch and stir well until ghee is absorbed. Similarly, add the entire ghee at regular intervals until the halwa thickens.
- When the carrot halwa rolls without sticking to the pan and starts to release the added ghee, turn off the stove.
- Finally, Sprinkle some cardamom powder and, add in the cashews nuts roasted in a tbsp of ghee along with the ghee. And mix well. Viola, carrot halwa is ready to serve.
- Carrot halwa can be served warm or cold. Personally, I like to eat warm carrot halwa with fresh vanilla ice cream(low sugar). Please do try this combo this would later become your favorite dessert.
